Friday, July 11, 2008

The 4th of July minus fireworks...

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays…I don’t know why, all the patriotism or something like that! Surprisingly spending the 4th of July in a foreign country was a lot of fun! I had one of the best 4th’s in recent history, even though it was missing my favorite thing, fireworks!

The Peace Corps put on a 4th of July party which was a blast! We had hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit, and brownies to eat, which for the first time in Guatemala my eyes were bigger than my stomach, YAY for good food! We also had, of course, lots of beer, drinking games and a raffle for free stuff to our favorite places (we poor people need a luxury here and there)! There was also a lot of good ole’ American music and for my LFC friends, an APC style dance, minus the drunken hook ups! I even had an LFC friend there!

Funny story…I was sitting in a bar with some friends the night before the 4th and this guy walked in that looked really familiar but I thought nothing of it until he turned around and said “Mackenzie?” I was a little spooked but it turned out to be a guy that I knew from little ole’ LFC! It is really funny how small the world really is because what is the chance of both us being in the same bar at the same time, really people, come on!

I have finally gotten back into the work thing again! But I have to say I remember why I was ready for a break! The disorganization of everything here is getting to the point that it might send me over the edge! We are starting to do inspections for the organic certification process, oh my gosh, I have never been in a situation where people didn’t care to be more organized! Every time I suggest something that might make a little bit more work right now but in the end will make things easier they say, “bastante” or “its ok, this is enough!” I want to pull my hair out!

On the bright side my women’s group is going really well! I planted seed with one group which will hopefully turn out well but I do not have the greenest thumb! My other group is super “pilas” or “go getters!” They are so incredible! They constantly want to know about what they can do to make things better for their families! I am looking into a stove project for them where they have to pay Q100 of the cost and provide the labor! Stoves are really important here because all of my women cook over open fires without ventilation! Translation, the smoke fills the kitchen, their lungs and eyes, along with the baby’s lungs on their back! Also there are a lot of burn injuries here due to the unsafe cooking conditions! So that is exciting…

Well that is it for now….

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